Installing my first motorized C Band Satellite Dish (w/pictures)

[Titanium]

2x18AWG plus shield drain wire for the sensor and 2x12AWG shielded for the motor. The extra bare wire without insulation is referred to as a "drain" wire for the foil shield. This drain wire should be connected to the GND terminal on the back of the ASC1. Do not connect the other end out at the actuator. Just leave the other end disconnected out at the dish. Connecting both ends defeats some of the benefits from shielding from motor noise.

Remember to only connect/disconnect the DiSEqC switch with all devices power OFF or disconnected (not just in standby mode). DiSEqC switches are easily damaged by connecting and disconnecting devices through the powered switch.

No harm using several wires in the bundle for connection to ground. It is not necessary to drive a separate ground rod for the dish. Most important to ground the dish pole to the structure ground used for your utilities. You may have a dedicated ground rod for the dish, but be sure that it is bonded back to the structure ground. It is not recommended and not code to have multiple ground rods that are not bonded together. Unbonded multiple ground rods actually can create problems by creating a potential (basically power flowing between two ground rods and going places that it shouldn't be).

 

[RamboHack]

2x18AWG plus shield drain wire for the sensor and 2x12AWG shielded for the motor. The extra bare wire without insulation is referred to as a "drain" wire for the foil shield. This drain wire should be connected to the GND terminal on the back of the ASC1. Do not connect the other end out at the actuator. Just leave the other end disconnected out at the dish. Connecting both ends defeats some of the benefits from shielding from motor noise.

Thank you Titanium for your quick response.

Just to be 100% sure if i understood your explanation.

I ONLY connect ground (the extra wire) to the ASC1?... The other end left unconnected inside the actuator? Is that right?

Thanks

 

[Titanium]

Correct.

 

[RamboHack]

Hi guys!

Rain finally stopped, so i went to the roof for 2 hours today.

First thing i did, I fix the actutator!, folllowing an advice from you, i just changed the actuator from the inner side to the outter side of the plate, and that gave me enough room to track the whole arc without bumping with the polar ring mount.

Now i can freely move my dish on both sides of the arc. I havent set the physical limit swtich yet on the actuator, but thats the next thing i'll do on my agenda.

Second thing i did, i tried to track the whole west side starting from my zenith satellite (99 or 101w).

I went satellite by satellite, started at 99, then 10 pulses from the ASC1 took me to the 101, another 10 pulses to the 103w and so on, until i reach the 135w!!!! I guess that is the LAST satellite in the west side right?

I didnt get a lot of signal quality, only around 43%, but hey! i havent fine tune the dish yet, not eve the lnb... everything is set just that way from the beggining of my installation, and that way, i got the whole western arc!

Just the west arc, took me around one and a half hour, i will track the eastern side in the next days, maybe tomorrow.

But i couldnt resist the "temptation", and just for "fun" i drove my dish to almost the most easter way i could. and perform a blind search and to my surprise, i recieved 3 channels! @ Intelsat 34.5W

At first, my expectations were something around 55-58 all the way til 135w, but now it seems i can get from 34.5w to 135w, and i stll have like 10 inches left (at the east side) till my dish bump with the floor, so my guess is I can still get 2 or maybe 3 more satellites down from 34.5w maybe 31.5, 27.5 and 24.5W but i think there is nothing interesting in those satellites, but who knows, i'll check them later.

As of right now im getting Intelsat @ 34.5w all the way up to AMC 10 @135w without performing the "fine tuning" yet.

Im very excited guys! and i honestly want to say thank you to all of you for your help... i didnt finish it yet, but i think my goal is very, very near.

I will update this post as soon as i have more important info to share.

Thank you

RamboHack
Monterrey, Mexico

 

[Arion]

Congrats! I envy your clear view of the arc from your roof mount. For many of us we have trees and terrain to contend with and we can only get a portion of the arc and you pretty much have free sailing. With your situation you are pretty much guaranteed that if there is something you want to watch it will be available somewhere on a portion of the arc you can receive.

 

[KE4EST]

Be careful playing with it with out any limits set, especially since it is on the roof and you can't see it while you are pushing buttons.
You don't want to flop it or bend something. You really need to set them limits. Then set software limits in the ASC1 as a backup.

 

[RamboHack]

Thank you, i'll do the limit switch next time i go to the roof.


I have a quick question guys:

If my dish is pointed at the most extreme west satellite, which is 135w, if i PULL DOWN my dish and the signal get better, should i move the pole to the WEST? or the the east?

And if i PULL UP my dish, and signal get better, i should move the pole in wich direction?

Its a little confusing in the manual im reading.

Thank you

 

[KE4EST]

If you pull down on it slightly and it gets better, on the west side, rotate your dish on the pole very slightly to the west, then move the actuator back to the east a click or 3.
Opposite if you push up and it gets better.

 

[RamboHack]

If you pull down on it slightly and it gets better, on the west side, rotate your dish on the pole very slightly to the west, then move the actuator back to the east a click or 3.
Opposite if you push up and it gets better.

Ohh i got it, thank you very much!

And i guess its the same on the east side? if pulling down my east extreme satellite and gets better, i should rotate to the east. if pulling up then rotate to the west.

 

[KE4EST]

Correct.

 

[a33]

If my dish is pointed at the most extreme west satellite, which is 135w, if i PULL DOWN my dish and the signal get better, should i move the pole to the WEST? or the the east?

If that is the same on the east side, it is not a pole-moving issue, but an elevation-declination issue.

If the effect is the opposite on the east side, ONLY THEN it is a turn the mount on the pole issue (non-perfect due-south aligning).

I would first check the effects at the opposite side, before possibly changing anything. You don't want to mess up what is already perfect....

Greetz,
A33

Edit: Ah! Your question was also already answered at Ricks Satellite Wildfeed and Backhaul Forum....

 

[RamboHack]

If you pull down on it slightly and it gets better, on the west side, rotate your dish on the pole very slightly to the west, then move the actuator back to the east a click or 3.
Opposite if you push up and it gets better.

Its a little confusing.... you told me "If you pull down on it slightly and it gets better, on the west side, rotate your dish on the pole very slightly to the west"

But, reading a C Band manual i found on google it says:

So, if i pull down of lowering my dish, on the west side, i should rotate the pole east? or west?

 

[RamboHack]

Maybe i did something wrong, because today i went to the roof, and ponint my dish to 135w, then i lower the dish with my hands and the signal gets a little better, so i rotate the pole to the WEST and i lost signal, but then move the dish with the actuator and the signal gets back, after making some adjustments, i decided to go to the other side of the arc, and it was gone i only get 97 and 89, lower than that nothing... yesterday i got 34.5w, today not even 55 or 58.

So i guess my "tweaking" gone bad.

Luckly i put a tape at the pole, so next time i go to the roof, i can set my pole position as it was before.... i didnt move anything else, no elevation, no declination, no nothing, just the azimuth (pole position).

I have another question guys:

I found something weird....dont know if it is my ASC1 or my actuator, or anything.

But lets supose i have 107w on position 0440 at my ASC1, then i press like 20 or 30 times the west button on the ASC1 to go to the 113w and i found the 113w on the position 0470 (its just an example), but then when i return to the 107, i count the exact same 20 or 30 pulses from the ASC1 and the 107w is not in the 0440 position like it was before.... now its at 0445 or 0443 (its an example), but not in the EXACT position it was before, So if i save the satellite o my ASC1 its not going to be in the 0440 position. Why do i have this problem? is it because the bolts at the actuator are not super thight? or what could it be?.... i have to fix this actuator problem BEFORE anything else or i could never get the whole arc with this differences in positions.

 

[KE4EST]

So, if i pull down of lowering my dish, on the west side, i should rotate the pole east? or west?

You are correct, I was half asleep I guess.
As the actuator moves to the west of course it lowers the dish.
If you pull down at the west side and it gets better, rotating the whole dish back to the east a bit will raise it slightly, but move it to a slightly different plane.
So you then have to move the dish with the actuator west and it will lower the dish back down but this time align with a different spot.
If you ponder it for a minute you will see it makes sense.
If it were a fixed dish, the dish is back in the same spot but the elevation is lowered.
The skew is also ever so slightly rotated which helps too.

 

[. Raine]

I had the same type of issue with my ASC1 and what fixed it for me was having the ground wire that runs in with the sensor wires grounded at the actuator, instead of on the back of the ASC1.

Only connecting the ground (shield drain wire?) At the dish actuator or the ASC1 is how I was told to set it up. Connecting to the ASC1 gave me count errors, connecting to the actuator worked for me.

I don't know if yours is the same issue as mine but its a easy thing to try and that fixed my count errors. Once you get the ASC1 setup and working good, its an awesome controller.

 

[KE4EST]

Yes, like Raine said, you are having a count error somewhere.
It could be what you said if something is not tightened down also.
I had one, one time like that for a day or so. Drove me crazy, turns out I had forgot to tighten the bolts on the pole.
So as I moved it East and West the weight of the dish would cause it to rotate very slightly on the pole enough to mess up counts.
Mine was on off a couple here and there and sometimes would be just fine. But as soon as I was way to the East and come back toward the the far West it would be off a couple of counts.
Next day I figured it out and smacked myself in the forehead and tightened down the bolts.

 

[Titanium]

Stepping a dish between two unprogrammed points wth loose hardware will be problematic. You might not be missing counts.

I agree that you shouldn't be concerned about comparing exact counts until the mount is tightened and have a few satellites programmed and saved. Once everything is tightened, program two satellites using the receiver's DiSEqC 1.2 menu. Have the receiver automatically move between the two programmed satellites and the same transponders.

It is important to test by using the same transponders, because some transponders may have better Signal Quality meter readings if the dish is moved slightly away from the exact satellite position. This improvement is often the result of attenuating interfering signals from an adjacent satellite.

 

[Arion]

I was having count errors with my Z-box [saving up for your controller] and followed your instructions with putting the right capacitor between M1 and M2 on the actuator and that has taken care of most of the miscounts. I think the rest of it is that I have a four conductor cable and I'm running motor voltage as well as controller wiring in the same bundle. Also with the Z-box there is no grounding screw so I had to cobble together a ring connector to go around the F-fitting at the back of the box. Separate control cable from the motor cable in the spring as well as a better controller should take care of it.

 

[Titanium]

Are you sure the receiver's f-fitting is grounded? Most FTA receivers are not grounded and use a wall transformer or a 2 prong plug. These AC power connections do not provide ground.

A better option would be to attach a ground wire to the wall plate cover screw. Any outlet installed to code in the past 50 years has the cover screw attached to structure ground.

 

[Arion]

Are you sure the receiver's f-fitting is grounded?

Man...I didn't even think about that to my shame....and I'm a General class ham so I should know better. I'll bond that drain wire right to the common point copper station ground.